Letter From April 11th, 2012

This will have to be a pretty short email today because I am almost out of time. I can't believe that Trey is already 12 years old.  It seems like only yesterday he was just a little guy. By the time I get back he is gonna be bigger than me.

 

This week has been long,  but went well.  We had a good turn out at Church and all, and we actuallly had 2 less active members come back in to activity. The guy had been the ex-branch president and district president and had fallen away for a couple of years, but he is back now.  Him and his wife are really great people.   We will be using Skype at their house to call on Mother's Day.  I'm so pumped, I can hardly wait!!

 

Well I bet your wondering about how the transfers went and all.  I'm staying here in the area with my comp too.  I reversed the curse and will finally stay 2 transfers with the same comp (ha ha).  And also we have 2 new elders living with us because they opened up a new area here.  One of them is an American who got here today.  He is really green, but he is already speaking pretty well.  But, our house is  really small is the thing that is gonna be rough now.   I  love you all and will talk to you here in a couple of days.  Sorry about the short email.

Letter From April 2nd, 2012

I absolutely love General Conference. Such a strong spirit. Usually they have it in English, but they only had it in Portuguese again.   I felt bad for the newbies that didn't understand hardly anything. My favorite talk was Eder Jeffery R. Holland's talk.  He goes way hard.  He is my favorite apostle, but there were a lot of good talks given.  I didn't get to watch the priesthood session, so I still don't know how that was.  But, I did get to watch the 4 main sessions.  It's always nice to get a little break every once in a while from walking everywhere and sit under the AC for a little bit.  We were able to take a couple of investigators to watch Conference and they all said that they liked it.

We baptized a young lady who is the Relief Society's niece.  Yes, here we have to get permission to baptize if they are under the age of 18.  But, we have the baptismal record paper thing that when the parents sign it you can baptism them.  It had been awhile since we had baptized, but finally we had one.  This is the last week of this transfer so are gonna have the "drought" here this week and a half without emailing.  Who knows - maybe the next email I send will be in a different area, but I don't think that I will leave.  I have only been here for 3 months.  We are gonna get a lot of new missionaries this transfer, like 19 newbies and only 3 people are going home, so there is gonna be a lot of new areas that will open up.  So, I think maybe my comp and I will stick together and get some new elders in our house. I would like to stay with my comp another transfer.  I like him a lot.  But, as you know, President doesn't like to leave me with anyone even if I do like them.  Until now I have never stayed 2 transers with anyone, so I don't see that starting now (ha ha).  But, we'll see what happens.  A part of me wants to stay, but then again, there is a part of me that wants to go.

That's thats about it for this week.   One other thing, we got to do a service project this week for a member who was needing some help with doing the floor in their new house. Man, am I sure grateful for the way that we build our houses in the states.  It's way better.  Really, I'm gonna be so grateful when I get back for so many things that I think we take for granted as Americans and especially as members of the Church.  Love you all so much.  Talk to you here in a week and a half:)

Letter from March 19th, 2012

 Man - I just miss the snow so much.  I think when I come home, I'm just gonna spend like a straight week snowboarding.  That's so crazy that you guys got a snow day a week before Spring Break (ha ha).  It's pretty funny here because there are some people who when it gets to be about 75 degrees, they start to complain about how it's cold and then I just like to laugh at them and I tell them they don't even know what cold is!

 

     I got lucky on Tuesday at Zone Conference and I didn't get called on to talk (ha ha).  But, I was prepared.  It only had to be like 5 minutes long.  It's hilarious how before the mission a 5 minute talk seemed like a big deal, but now that's a piece of cake!  But each person in our Zone had to memorize a paragraph from the Family Proclamation and prepare a talk based on the paragraph.  So, I got the third paragraph which is the second longest, but it wasn't too tough.  It was cool to see all of the old freinds that I have made at the Conference. There was one of the elders from my MTC District.  I would just love to be comps with him, but we´ll see if that ever happens.  I don't think Pres. Hall gives much attention when people ask to be comps with someone. 

 

     I'm sending a pic of me and the sign that there is as you come into the city.  It says "Welcome to Rio Tinto". This week was a pretty normal week. On Tuesday we had the Zone Conference.  All of the talks were about the family and the importance of the family in God's plan.  It was an awesome meeting.   I think everyone got a little trunky thinking about marriage and everything (ha ha).  My Branch Pres. has a new born baby girl that is just the cutest little thing.  I just can't wait to be a dad (ha ha).  But, I still got a little time left before that comes.  The parents of the young woman still didn't give permission, but we will see if they change their minds. Yesterday at Church it was awesome to see a man, that the Lord baptized through me a couple of weeks ago, pass the sacrament for the first time.  I was so happy!!  But, other than that things are pretty much the same ol' same ol' here - just workin' hard to get these people dunked here.  I love you sooo much - have a great week!!

Letter from March 12th, 2012

Well Hello!!  Sounds like another busy week for you guys as well. This week was almost like Christmas for me (ha ha).    On Tuesday our ZL's went to Joao Pessoa, so of course they got all of our mail.  First off I got the package from Chris and Lauren that was just full of great stuff and I was just so happy. The package didn't have a return address, so if you could, can you please send them a note telling them that I thank them so much.  Then I got your guys package as well that was just full of a bunch of great stuff as well. I am addicted to playing the recorder now. I don't even care that it is like the simplest instrument to play (ha ha).  It is a lot of fun.  I still have to practice a lot, but I am getting pretty good at reading the music and everything now which for me, a guy who never played anything in his life, it's awesome!  Also, I got that letter from Elder Davis (I think is his name).  Sounds like the Elders over there are having some pretty good success which is good to hear.

 

This week was pretty much the same as they always are. It's getting really hot and the rain is starting to fall as well. If you can find an umbrella for me, I would greatly appreciate it. The rainy season is gonna start here in the next month or two and then it's going to pretty much rain everyday.

 

We had some of our investigators at church yesterday.  We have a young woman who, if her parents give us permission, we should baptize her.  Just the whole permission thing is gonna be a little bit difficult.  Then pretty much all of the other people that we have need to get married first. Pretty much here in Brazil out of every 10 families, 1 is legally married. So it's really difficult here. Tomorrow we are going to have Zone Conference in Joao Pessoa.  Each member of our Zone has to memorize a certain paragraph and prepare a 5 min talk on how we can apply this to our teaching. I have to memorize the 3rd paragraph which is the 2nd largest paragraph. So, we will see if I get chosen tomorrow to talk or not. And, I will be getting mail as well! So, we will see if any young ladies have written me!!

 

Yes, I finally made it to the single digits in months left.  That's pretty crazy!!i  It seems to go by so fast and so slow at the same time (ha ha).  But, it is a once in a life time chance, so it's all worth it. But, I love you all.  Give everyone a great big hug and kiss for me. 

Letter from March 5th, 2012

Well how are things going? I take it that you guys had some pretty good ol' times at "Wicked". Amanda sent me some pics of the boys (ha ha). They are just getting so big!!  I freakin' love Kolten's hair (ha ha). 

 

Not much new stuff that has been happening these past couple of days. I have just been getting to know my new companion and all.  He is super white (ha ha) and he reminds me of Shawn White. One of these days I will send you guys some pics. I need to try to figure out how to send like all my pics at once because I have a bunch. But,  he is from Curitiba, Paraná.  It's way down in the southern part of Brazil. He has 9 months in the mission. He is pretty chill too. It's funny - he is so white that like everyone says that he is American and some people don't believe him so he has to like show them his identification and everything. People say that I look more Brazilian than he does (ha ha).  This week was pretty calm and everything with transfers going on. We had Fast and Testimony meeting which was good. Our branch is so small that pretty much everybody that could bore their testimony, and we even finished a little early because there was no one else to bear testimony (ha ha). We have this one lady who we are teaching that we are trying to get baptized.  She is ready and everything, but she still isn't baptized and there is nothing holding her back from being baptized. Even she got up there and bore her testimony how she knows the church is true and the Book of Mormon is true.  I'm just sitting there thinking why doesn't she want to get baptized??!!!  But, I know that the Lord works in His own time and everything, so maybe I'll just have to wait.

 

This morning we played a little bit of soccer which is always fun. The best part was when we put the Brazilians vs. the Americans. All I'm saying is that we represented quite well against them and we ended up pulling off the big upset which just felt so good. But, that's about it for news this week.  I hope that everyone is well and all. Hope Dad's feeling better.  Love you all so much!

Letter from February 29th, 2012

Sounds like things are going good for you guys. So, yeah - pretty much you guessed right.  Pres. Hall doesn't let me stay with my comps ever. So, I'm getting a new comp today. I don't know him or anything about him right now, so I'll be able to tell you more this Monday.  All I know is that he is a Brazilian.  But, we had a really good transer with my old comp and we got along well.  

 

This week and a half passed by really fast. With all the work and traveling and things that have to get taken care of and everything, it seems to pass by really fast. But, I'm excited to stay in my area at least one more transfer. We are gonna have to work really hard to have success here, but we are always working hard.  I hope my new comp likes to work!!

 

I feel like I'm pretty much writing like the same thing every week.  If you have any questions, it would help a little bit (ha ha).  Hey, you need to get on Amanda and Jessie's case because I haven't heard from them in months, so I don't know anything that's going on in their lives. Quite a few Elders from my district were transfered and pretty much now we have the coolest district in the mission I would say (ha ha). We have so many cool Elders, and 4 of us are Americans (ha ha).  This will be my 3rd Brazilian comp and my 10th comp in my mish and I only have been out a year and 2 months.  I hope that you guys all have a great week and I will be able to give a little bit more info here in a couple of days on Monday when I pass internet again. Love you so much!!

Letter From February 6th, 2012

You had asked the reason why I had to leave my last area - the reason was because a bunch of missioinaries left and only a couple got here so we are down a couple of missionaries right now.  So, there was a couple of areas that had to get closed.  My new comp has about 5 months in the mission right now.  This is about his third month here in this area.  This is his first area.

 

Here are some photos - some from this week and others from a while back.  I have a bunch of  photos, but with this email and computer, I can't send that many.  But, this week went really well.  We had two baptisms this week which was cool.  One was a young man who is 16 years old and another that's 18 years old.  We are still teaching a lot of people here.  We are STILL trying to help people get married though.  Most of the people don't want to which is kinda rough.  But, what do ya do?  I'm just gonna do everything in my power and then leave the rest up to the big guy upstairs.  He does some strong work!! 

 

But, things are going really well here and all.   We got to play a little soccer this morning which is always fun.  Our Branch President blessed his first child yesterday, a little baby girl.  So, there were quite a few people there visiting. Please get that package sent to me ASAP - I just love getting mail.  We will be getting mail on Wednesday because the ZL's are going to Joao Pessoa, so I'm hoping that I got something waiting for me. Well I hope that all is well with everyone.  I love you all and have a great week!

 

P.S.  This area has the most delicous churros in the world.